they are playing better, but they still have a ton of glaring problems. lack of true veteran leadership, suspect (read: intermittent) defense, and an unproven goaltender that hasnt performed well against good teams. Not worried at all.

Assuming things continue as they seem, the Pens will have the 1 seed and the Caps will have the 3rd. It will thus be impossible to play them before the conference finals. Until then... I don't care about them, really...

No point in getting over a team you might never even meet in the playoffs... one round at a time, folks.

Yeah, I don't know about worried - but concerned, yeah I'm concerned about any opponent we face in the first round - which probably won't be the Caps anyway, unless the Jets somehow win that division...

Pitt87 wrote:Winnipeg is a better team than Washington. When Mike Ribeiro is part of your primary scoring, you are in big trouble.

Nahhh....Caps are better than the Jets but I sure don't worry about facing them or any other team in the East in the playoffs. You either bring your "A" game against a "B-rated" team or get eliminated is about it all comes down to in the playoffs, despite all the over-analysis, media hype and everything else.

Pitt87 wrote:Winnipeg is a better team than Washington. When Mike Ribeiro is part of your primary scoring, you are in big trouble.

Nahhh....Caps are better than the Jets but I sure don't worry about facing them or any other team in the East in the playoffs. You either bring your "A" game against a "B-rated" team or get eliminated is about it all comes down to in the playoffs, despite all the over-analysis, media hype and everything else.

Caps can score, but WPG is the only team in the SE with a winning record -- albeit just barely -- against the Atlantic and NE division, and have been taking it to teams in their own division as least as well as the Caps. In terms of scoring, they have a few more contributors and are probably a little better defensively. That said, I have seen more Jets hockey and less Caps hockey this year.

Caps also have a tougher last few games than the Jets do, and they do meet once more before the end of the season.

The caps are obviously a different team than in the first half of the season. Judging them by their record is as foolish as judging the 08-09 Pens by their regular season record...

The Caps are hot. Hot teams win the cup. Fortunately, the Pens are also hot. But they're not healthy again... If I had to rank the teams in order of likeliness to make it out of the East, I'd say:

1. Penguins2a. Bruins2b. Capitals4. Rangers5. Senators

I don't think any of the other teams can make it. I think the Caps have only a slightly less chance of going all the way as the Bruins right now, But against the Pens, because it's the Pens, I'd actually say the Caps chances are higher.

Am I worried? No. It'd be an awesome series, but I think the Caps have supplanted the Bruins as the Pens biggest hurdle to making the finals.